Abandoned buildings provide us with a look at the past. Often these structures are all that's left of the history of a bygone era. The images within these pages will help tell the story of forgotten coal towns of West Virginia and provide a way for others to explore them before they are demolished or reclaimed by nature. Take a visual journey through these abandoned towns with photographer Michael Justice. If you've ever seen a building and wanted to explore but didn't have the time or lacked personal safety equipment (these places are dangerous and caution should be used), this book is for you. While the buildings are abandoned, there are signs of life. No buildings were harmed in the making of this book.
The coal industry revolutionized early America, driving the economy for years before oil. What's left unheard of is the struggle of mankind and the sacrifices made to launch our nation into power. Exploring the Abandoned Coal Towns of West Virginia takes readers on a guided tour through West Virginia's coal towns, spotlighting the struggles and sacrifices of early Americans to lead the way into our world today. Many of these coal towns thrived while others plummeted practically to the ground, but traces can still be seen today. We cannot forget about those who built the interior of America, whose homes and businesses now lay abandoned like a wrecked ship at the bottom of the ocean.
Mary Stevenson's work chronicles--through photographs--the history of many of West Virginia's southern coal mining towns. For a time coal was king in West Virginia. Today, most of the mines have closed, and many of the towns are long gone. To tell the story of generations of hard working West Virginians--both coal miners and enterprising businessmen--we have mainly fading memories and old photographs. Volume 2 tells the story of Beckley when it was the "Capitol of the Coalfields." It also tells the story of many once vibrant towns, some of which no longer exist. Watch as West Virginia moved into a new century: as burgeoning coal towns filled with churches, schools, stores, and theatres. Read about coal barons, among them two brothers who came on foot from Tennessee to make their fortunes. This book contains all of the photographs in Stevenson's first two long out of print books, From Affinity To Winding Gulf and From Ameagle To Wingrove. This edition also contains over a hundred previously unpublished rare photos of Beckley and surrounding communities. ...These coal towns are portrayed as their residents saw them, in all their grit and glory. Whether large (Beckley) or small (Edwight), these coal camps and communities gave southern West Virginia its character. Readers will enjoy memories of bygone days brought vividly to life in the photographs of this book. Kenneth R. Bailey, Ph.D., Editor, West Virginia Historical Society Quarterly. Four-time president of the raleigh County Historical Society and cited by the state as a West Virginia History hero, Mrs. Stevenson has a keen sense of the historic. She has the talent to track down and preserve photographs from days gone by tha say to us: This is the way it was. Jim Wood, author of Raleigh County, West Virginia and Raleigh County Mine Deaths
"The Smokeless Coal Fields of West Virginia is much more than a brief history of one of West Virginia's most productive coal regions. Written by a pioneer operator who served in leadership positions in the Winding Gulf Coal Operators Association. The Smokeless Operators Association, the National Coal Association and the Southern Coal Operators Association, theis [this] little book constitutes a memoir of a man and a generation that shaped our history. Tams's description of the events, companies, and personalities that built the coal industry in the New River and Winding Gulf regions fills an important gap in our understanding of that volatile time."--Ronald D. Eller, from the Introduction (on back cover).
A marvelous group of historical photographs, which document the history and way of life in numerous coal camps. Back when "Coal was King," new towns sprang up, and fortunes were earned almost overnight. Almost as quickly, many of the mines closed down and the towns either disappeared without a trace or became ghost towns. In Coal Towns, Stevenson preserves the memory of an era that no longer exists, but which indelibly shaped the state of West Virginia.
“The most comprehensive and comprehendible history of the West Virginia Coal War I’ve ever read.” —John Sayles, writer and director of Matewan On September 1, 1912, the largest, most protracted, and deadliest working-class uprising in American history was waged in West Virginia. On one side were powerful corporations whose millions bought armed guards and political influence. On the other side were fifty thousand mine workers, the nation’s largest labor union, and the legendary “miners’ angel,” Mother Jones. The fight for unionization and civil rights sparked a political crisis that verged on civil war, stretching from the creeks and hollows of the Appalachians to the US Senate. Attempts to unionize were met with stiff resistance. Fundamental rights were bent—then broken. The violence evolved from bloody skirmishes to open armed conflict, as an army of more than fifty thousand miners finally marched to an explosive showdown. Extensively researched and vividly told, this definitive book about an often-overlooked chapter of American history, “gives this backwoods struggle between capital and labor the due it deserves. [Green] tells a dark, often despairing story from a century ago that rings true today” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).
Coal was mined in Southern West Virginia even before the state's birth in 1863 but was mostly consumed within a few miles of where it was dug. When the railroads arrived on the scene, they not only provided a means of getting that coal to market, they also brought in trainloads of workers to the sparsely populated region. With the mines generally located in remote, out-of-the-way spots, operators were forced to build housing for those workers and their families, as well as company stores, schools, and churches- everything needed in a small community. Overnight, the nation's demand for coal turned sleepy, little places in Southern West Virginia into boomtowns and helped cities such as Charleston and Huntington grow and prosper as gateways to and from the coalfields.
